Wrexham take on Liverpool at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, with co-owner Ryan Reynolds calling the pre-season friendly a "punch-me moment" — the kind of line that captures the sheer improbability of a club that, five years ago, was grinding through non-league football in front of crowds of a few thousand (The Guardian).

The Hollywood star and his co-owner Rob McElhenney completed their takeover of Wrexham in 2021, when the club was in the National League — the fifth tier of English football. Since then, Wrexham have pulled off three consecutive promotions, climbing all the way to the Championship, the second tier, just one step below the Premier League. They finished seventh in their first Championship season in 2025-26, narrowly missing out on the playoffs — a mini-tournament for the four teams just below the automatic promotion places — on the final day.

That heartbreak has not dimmed the ambition. Manager Phil Parkinson, speaking ahead of the Liverpool match, set the target in vivid terms. The "knockout blow," he said, would be taking his side to Anfield — Liverpool's home ground — for a Premier League match in the 2027-28 season. It is a bold statement for a club yet to play a single season in the top flight, but it reflects the trajectory that has made Wrexham among the bookmakers' favourites for promotion from the Championship in 2026-27.

The Yankee Stadium fixture, kicking off at 7:30 PM local time, is part of a three-match US pre-season tour for Wrexham and the second stop on Liverpool's own American tour (Liverpool FC). Liverpool also faced Sunderland at Nashville's Geodis Park on July 25 and are scheduled to play Leeds in Chicago. For Wrexham, the tour follows earlier pre-season wins over Manchester United and Leeds — results that, however friendly the setting, would have been unthinkable during the National League days.

Reynolds' "punch-me moment" quote has circulated widely, picked up by talkSPORT, Goal.com, and Marca, with SportsCenter posting video of the actor's remarks on its Facebook page. Actor Paul Rudd, a friend and fellow Hollywood fixture, reportedly teased Reynolds about Wrexham's failure to reach the Premier League last season — a reminder that the club's story now plays out in the space where sport meets entertainment (Marca).

For all the Hollywood sparkle, the football realities are pressing. As of July 28, Wrexham were the only Championship club not to have made a single signing in the summer transfer window, and Parkinson has said the squad needs several more arrivals before the window closes to be competitive. A deal for Crystal Palace full-back Danny Imray was reportedly close. The challenge is steep: three clubs relegated from the Premier League — West Ham, Burnley, and Wolves — carry parachute payments into the Championship this season. These are large financial sums paid to relegated clubs to soften the drop, and they give those teams a spending advantage over sides like Wrexham who have climbed from below.

Wrexham's journey from the fifth tier to sharing a pitch with one of world football's grandest names, in a baseball stadium in the Bronx, is the kind of script that writes itself. The next chapter — reaching the Premier League — is still unwritten. Parkinson and his players will return to England with a Championship campaign to prepare for, and a squad still to assemble. The Anfield dream remains exactly that. But the view from here is already remarkable.